Parade, queen contest today at Marion County Fair

The annual Marion County parade at 10 a.m. today, July 27, is among highlights at the Marion County Fair in Palmyra, Mo. The parade will begin at the Palmyra High School.

Bev Darrbev.darr@courierpost.com

The annual Marion County parade at 10 a.m. today, July 27, is among highlights at the Marion County Fair in Palmyra, Mo. The parade will begin at the Palmyra High School.As usual, the parade will be followed at 11 a.m. by the Knights of Columbus barbecue on the Marion County Courthouse lawn.At noon the car show will begin at the fairground, with awards presented at 3 p.m.Also today the horseshoe tournament will begin at noon and shooting contests will take place during the afternoon.The Miss Marion County Fair queen contest will be at 7 p.m. at the talent stage at Flower City Park. The contestants are Marion County residents ages 16 to 22. They are Destinee Selleck, Destiny Reed, Sierra Burch, Rebecca Peiter, Emily Tate and Sky McElavin.Emily Haines, the current Miss Marion County Fair, will compete in the Missouri State Fair queen contest on Aug. 8 and 9.The new Miss Marion County Fair will compete in the state contest in 2014.This year two new contests have been added to the pageant.The Pre Junior Miss for girls ages 8 to 10 will begin at 3 p.m. today, and the Junior Miss contest for ages 11 to 15 will be at 4 p.m.The Marion County Fair schedule began with an archery contest on Thursday and trapshooting on Friday.On Sunday the Sesqui Building exhibits will open at 3 p.m.At 7 p.m. Sunday a program sponsored by he Ministerial Alliance will begin at the talent stage.In addition to livestock shows from Tuesday through Saturday, the fair will have numerous events for people of all ages. The fair is sponsored by the Palmyra Chamber of Commerce, with Michele and Randy Hopson as chairpersons. As she encouraged the public to attend the events, Michele predicted, “the weather will be absolutely beautiful.”Michelle explained that several new events are scheduled this year. “The car show is new, and we have had lots of calls,” she said. “We are not doing any preregistering, but I think it’s going to go over really well. It will be around the midway section of the fair.“We encourage everybody to be in the parade if they are going to be in the car show,” Michele added.Another new event is the Ford Night concert at 9 p.m. today in the arena, she said. It will feature a concert by 16-year-old Charissa Mrowka, who has been performing professionally since age 7 in Nashville and elsewhere. “She will be at seven area fairs this summer,”Michele said.At least 29 bulls will be in the new Tate-Shade Memorial Bull Bash at 7 p.m. Monday in the arena, Michele said. A cowboy shootout also is planned. The sponsors “will donate 75 percent of their proceeds to the area fair,” she reported.For more details and a schedule of events, see showmepalmyra.com.Evening events in the arena will include:• Tate-Shade Memorial Bull Bash, 7 p.m. Monday.• Garden tractor pull, 6 p.m. Tuesday• Tractor pull, 6:30 p.m. Tuesday• Pedal powered tractor pull, 7 p.m. Wednesday• Four-wheeler races, 8 p.m. Wednesday• Supercross races, 8 p.m. Thursday• Demolition derby, 7:30 p.m. Friday• Super pull, 7 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 3